The Bronze Age: Unique instance of a pre-industrial world system?

This paper considers the crosscultural trade of the 3rd millennium BC across the region between the Euphrates & the Indus from the perspective of world-system theory. This theory was developed for the international economics of the past few centuries, but in the 3rd millennium BC, when neither l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current anthropology 2001-06, Vol.42 (3), p.351-379
Main Authors: RATNAGAR, Shereen, BASA, Kishor K, STEIN, Gil J, VARMA, Supriya, BHATTACHARYA, D. K, DHAVALIKAR, M. K, KOHL, Philip L, LAMBERG-KARLOVSKY, C. C, MENON, Jaya, PEREGRINE, Peter N, HIMANSHU PRABHA RAY, SCHORTMAN, Edward
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Developing Countries
Economic Development
Economy and society
Ethnology and art
International Trade
Methodology and general studies
Prehistory
Prehistory and protohistory
Technological Progress
World Economy
World System Theory
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Summary:This paper considers the crosscultural trade of the 3rd millennium BC across the region between the Euphrates & the Indus from the perspective of world-system theory. This theory was developed for the international economics of the past few centuries, but in the 3rd millennium BC, when neither labor nor land was a commodity, economic processes were totally different. The Bronze Age was, however, unique even in ancient times in that the great river valley civilizations relied on metal for production & that metal (copper, tin, lead, etc) was scarce & had to be procured from afar, from less-developed regions. Thus, trade involved not just luxuries, but also basic requirements, interaction between societies at contrasting levels of technology & social organization, & organization by ruling elites. While making the point that Bronze Age economies were not inchoate versions of our own, the paper examines the nature of trading cultures & traded items, the technologies of transport, trade initiatives, comparative metallurgical development, & other features in an attempt to determine whether the trade "underdeveloped" some partners. Comments are offered by Kishor K. Basa; D. K. Bhattacharya; M. K. Dhavalikar; Philip L. Kohl; C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky; Jaya Menon; Peter N. Peregrine; Himanshu Prabha Ray; Edward Schortman; Gil J. Stein; & Supriya Varma, followed by a Reply by Ratnagar. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0011-3204
1537-5382
DOI:10.2307/3596622